I was reading through a music magazine the other day and came across a band called Verra Cruz. Just as I was about to turn the page I caught a line of the text describing the band’s sound as bluesy lapsteel guitar rock. What? A lapsteel guitar in a rock band! Instantly I loaded up there MySpace page and from then on I have been hooked.

The band consisting of Marc James (Vocals/Guitar/Lapsteel), Jimmy Cooke (Drums) and Henry Cross (Bass) is the best new rock music I have heard in ages. The Lapsteel guitar is played with heavy distortion and creates awesome, face melting riffs that feature on the band’s songs like “Rock and a Hard Place” (my favourite track).

The guys genuinely have a unique sound and they execute it with great style. The vocals supplied by Marc sound like a brilliant cross between Kurt Cobain and Bryan Adams while the guitar playing (on all of the three types) brings together mind boggling tunes like “Freedom”.

A video on their MySpace gives a quick profile of the band and Marc James confesses that there early material was good to listen to but people could not get involved at a gig. I am pleased to report that they have also conquered this problem in their more recent material where astonishing variety is shown. The range of skills is evident from the passionate slower paced “Friend to You” to the crowd friendly “Put the Weapon Down”.

Primal Scream have been announced as the headliners of this year’s NME Rock ‘N’ Roll Riot Tour. The supporting bill will be announced shortly, but expect some great bands, as the NME normally pull out all of the stops.

Tickets are on sale now, priced at £22.50 for all dates except London, which is priced at £25 a ticket. Tickets are available from here.

Thursday 20th November - Oxford Academy
Friday 21st November - Cardiff University
Sunday 23rd November - Bristol Academy
Monday 24th November - Southampton Guildhall
Tuesday 25th November - Reading Hexagon
Thursday 27th November - Nottingham, Rock City
Friday 28th November - London Hammersmith Apollo
Sunday 30th November - Norwich UEA
Monday 1st December Sheffield Academy
Tuesday 2nd December Brighton Dome
Thursday 4th December Birmingham Academy
Friday 5th December Cambridge Corn Exchange
Monday 8th December Leeds Academy
Tuesday 9th December Newcastle Academy
Thursday 11th December Manchester Apollo
Saturday 13th December Glasgow SECC

“This is a slower song – hope you don’t mind” Palladium’s Peter Pepper says before launching into “White Woman”. The audience certainly didn’t, as it gave a welcome respite from the scintillating pace they’d been playing at for the last twenty minutes.

Opening up with their new single “Happy Hour”, they quickly set out their manifesto: fast, friendly and frantic pop. Racing through 7 songs in 30 minutes, they worked the crowd well and had more arms flailing down the front than The Thrills did half an hour later for the main set of the evening.

Whilst trying to think of a band to compare them to, this Londonista really couldn’t decide, in the end settling on Klaxons fronted by Patrick Wolf playing Delays and Sunshine Underground. They really are an oddball group of people that really shouldn’t be in a band together, but somehow it just works.

There were three songs in the set (their opening two and closing song) which were very promising, easily able to outshine most of the current crop of pop-wannabes; however the middle of the set did seem to largely be filler that started to sound very similar. Their energy may have been unstoppable, but it’s no good if the tunes all sound similar but slightly re-jigged.

Peter Pepper (if that is his real name…) introduced the last, and perhaps best, song of their evening, Hi-5, by giving the record company spiel about buying their new single in a decidedly boring and un-Palladium like way… they might as well got the guys from EMI to do it themselves. This is one band where they should leave the music to do the talking for them.

Whilst at the moment Palladium are only playing small venues supporting bands at the moment, expect in time them to be playing their own palladiums and theatres near you

Palladium support Amy Winehouse at Somerset House tomorrow, then play Lovebox on Sunday and a headline show at the Barfly on Thursday 2nd August.
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Having won the Innocent Unsigned bands talent search last year and the chance to play at their Fruitstock Festival, Londoners Scouting For Girls have had an amazing year. Signing to Epic Records on Valentine’s Day this year, they’re about to release their first EP, the incredibly anthemic “It’s Not About You” which will just grab you by the heart strings and make you think “YES!” and become addicted to them. Or you can just write them off as another bunch of Keane wannabes. You choose, but you know what I think.

Scouting For Girls are the sort of band that are perfect to open the festivals – people lounging around, feeling rough after the previous night, and just wanting some music to take them to “that happy place”. As they say themselves in their biography, they’re “unashamedly nostalgic, mottled with loss, disillusion and a poignant lamentation for innocent past times”.

Many bloggers have been very excited about their current material, with favourable reports emerging about their live shows. Needless to say, for those of you fortunate enough to be going to Glastonbury this weekend (and if so, why aren’t you there already?), they’ll be playing on Friday night at 8pm at the Late N Live Stage.

Reminiscent of both Keane (for their Piano-led pop-rock) and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly (for Sam Duckworth’s brilliant knack of conveying feelings and images of a time and place), Scouting For Girls are sure to gain a devoted following soon.

After the jump, catch their video for “It’s Not About You”. Picture was taken from Scouting For Girls’ MySpace.
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